A British ski instructor has been ordered to serve 200 days in a French prison or pay a 30,000 euro fine for teaching illegally in the Alps, reports The Telegraph.
Simon Butler, one of Britain's top skiers, said he would "serve time behind bars" rather than pay a fine after a French court ruled he has been giving skiing lessons without the right licence.
The 51-year-old said he believed the ruling was the result of a "racist vendetta" and launched an immediate appeal.
Butler is the British Masters Champion and has taught in a French resort for 30 years. But he was sentenced by a court in Bonneville, Haute Savoie, following a long-running legal battle that found he failed to provide the necessary paperwork to demonstrate he can teach in France.
A legal hearing at the Tribunal Correctionnel de Bonneville ruled that Butler must go to jail for 200 days or pay 150 euros per day instead.
Speaking after the ruling, Butler, from Guildford, Surrey claimed he had been the victim of a long-running campaign by business rivals to get him off the slopes, being "spat on and told to go back to my own country".
He also said he would appeal and "has no intention" of paying the fine because he believes he is "totally in the right".
He added: "I am prepared to go to prison because I have no intention of paying this fine. I have done nothing wrong.
"This is absolutely despicable and the court has given me no explanation of the reasons behind it."
The court also fined his six fellow British instructors who work with him in Megeve between 1,000 euros to 4,000 euros for teaching illegally.
The sentence comes after Butler was arrested on a chairlift in Megeve, Haute-Savoie, in February, in front of his clients.
Gendarmes escorted him down the slope and he was held in custody for 36 hours and banned from teaching guests holidaying with his ski firm, Simon Butler Skiing.
"If I have to go to prison, I won't be upset but I will be very, very angry. I am mentally prepared for it," Butler said,
"But the fact of the matter remains that I believe I have done everything in my power to prove that my British ski qualifications are in order and that I absolutely have the right to teach skiing in France. This has been nothing but a racist vendetta to get me out."
Butler went on to describe how he has spent years being "victimised" by rival French ski instructors and the French Embassy, which has accused him of "operating illegally".
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.